Formulations and Writing
Formulations | Shortened Sentences | Hyphenation | Upper-/Lower-case | Country-specific Characters
This section describes how to design texts. It deals with topics such as abbreviations, hyphenation, use of country-specific characters, and also highlighting.
Formulations
Terms
If possible, use terms that the users know and that they understand.
Suffixes
Except for the word "personnel number", you can do without the suffix "number". For example, we talk about a "vendor" and not a "vendor number". Use suffixes such as "key" and "indicator" only if they are necessary to understand the field.
Shortened Sentences
If you use short formulations, use the sequence verb -> noun (English) or noun -> verb (German) without the article. Avoid making verbs into nouns.
Exception: If several short phrases appear consecutively (for example, in a pulldown menu), the part containing the information, that is, the verb, is always written first. This also applies to German.
Examples
|
English |
German |
|
|---|---|---|
|
Enter account (alone) |
Konto eingeben (einzeln) |
|
|
Display account (for several) |
Konto anzeigen (für mehrere) |
|
|
Delete account |
Konto löschen |
Hyphenation
Do not hyphenate words on a screen, so that they extend over two lines. Write words with a hyphen in the same line.
Examples
|
Good: |
Enter all your relevant data into this dialog box. |
|
|---|---|---|
|
The new object-oriented User interface is fairly good. |
||
|
Bad: |
Enter all your relevant data into this dia- log box. |
|
|
The new object- oriented user interface is fairly good. |
Upper-/Lower-case
Use both upper- and lower-case letters to improve readability. Do not use upper-case letters as design elements to highlight headers or other elements.
Examples
|
Good: |
Software ergonomics is an interdisciplinary science. |
|
|---|---|---|
|
Bad: |
SOFTWARE ERGONOMICS IS AN INTERDISCIPLINARY SCIENCE. |
Country-specific Characters
Use country-specific characters, for example, the umlaut and ß in German.
Examples (German)
|
Good: |
Möhren ärgern Spaßvögel übrigens nie. |
|
|---|---|---|
|
Bad: |
Moehren aergern Spassvoegel uebrigens nie. |
